In this time exposure image, smoke rises from the stacks of the La Cygne Generating Station coal-fired power plant in La Cygne, Kan. / Charlie Riedel / File / Associated Press

Written by

Michael Cass and Emily West

The Tennessean

Environmental activists in Middle Tennessee expressed support Tuesday for President Barack Obama’s new initiatives to attack climate change.

“There is a real sense that this is overdue,” said Louise Gorenflo, spokeswoman for the Tennessee chapter of the Sierra Club.

Obama directed the Environmental Protection Agency to create carbon pollution standards for new and existing power plants, pursue fuel efficiency in a variety of ways and make the nation less dependent on fossil fuels. The White House’s 21-page plan also calls for the federal government to help local communities prepare for climate-related disasters.

Implications for TN

The president’s plan has sweeping implications for Tennessee utilities and consumers. But Catherine Glover, president of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said it could backfire.

“Ultimately, this plan could make Tennessee and the United States less energy secure, provide less affordable energy, and unable to meet our future energy needs,” Glover said. “Tennessee consumers, workers and businesses simply cannot afford another smothering layer of new regulations, whose benefits are unproven and whose true costs are not readily apparent.”

The new standards for greenhouse gas emissions by power plants would affect the Tennessee Valley Authority’s operations at facilities like its coal-burning Gallatin Fossil Plant. Last year, TVA plants produced 81.25 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, down 23 percent from 2005 levels.

The Sierra Club and other environmental groups sued TVA in April over its plans to spend $1 billion installing pollution controls in Gallatin. The lawsuit contends TVA violated national environmental policy by not fully studying alternatives to the upgrades, such as retiring the plant.

TVA officials said the utility, which provides electricity for 9 million in seven states, including most of Tennessee, is already aligned with some of the president’s ideas and bound to comply with any new regulations.

“Back in 2010 the board of directors for TVA agreed to be a leading provider for energy efficiency by 2020, and we are working in that regard,” said John Myers, director of environmental policy and regulatory affairs.

Could affect prices

In 2010, TVA’s residential rate was 9.1 cents per kilowatt hour, compared with the national average of 11 cents. How rates might change due to the president’s initiatives is unclear.

TVA has seven large power-generating facilities in the state, and there are four non-TVA natural gas or fuel oil power plants, said Meg Lockhart, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, a Nashville Democrat, said Obama’s speech “was inspiring, and his proposals are generally on the right track.”

Sen. Lamar Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, said the job of addressing climate change should be left to Congress.

“Certainly the United States should not impose a cumbersome and expensive carbon-reduction scheme, which would drive up the cost of energy and destroy jobs at a time when unemployment is still 7.6 percent,” he said.

Tiffany Wilmot, owner of Nashville-based Wilmot Inc., which helps companies design environmentally efficient buildings, said Obama “did a good job opening the door to discuss climate change” but could have emphasized its effects even more.

“Our work helps owners improve their energy efficiency, and it’s easy to see that they save energy and money,” Wilmot wrote in an email. “But, what Obama missed was that when we make buildings high-performance, we find another benefit that’s not accounted for — improvements in human health and productivity.”